Cerreto Scipione, *1551 Naples, †after 1631, Italian composer, theorist and lutenist. He was active in Naples.
Cerreto’s writings contain a wealth of information about musical life in Naples – particularly his treatise Della prattica musica – as well as about the methods of improvised counterpoint used by singers and instrumentalists. Of his compositions, only three madrigals have survived, appearing in a revised and expanded edition of Arcadelt’s collection Il primo libro de madrigali à 4 voci (Naples 1608), as well as some parts from two collections of three-part canzonettas published in Naples (Primo libro di canzonette… 1606 and L’Ama-rillide… Op. 18, 1621).
Literature: D. Fabris Strumenti di corde, musici e Congregazioni a Napoli alla metà del Seicento, “Note d’archivio per la storia musicale” series I, 1983.
Writings:
Della prattica musica uocale et strumentale…, Naples 1601
Dell’arbore musicale…, Naples 1608
Dialoghi armonici pel contrappunto e per la composizione 1626, MS held at the library of the Conservatorio di Musica San Pietro a Maiella in Naples; another version titled: Dialogo harmonico ove si tratta (…) di tutte le regole del contrappunto (…), delle proporzioni, et d’altre… 1631, MS held at the library of the Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale in Bologna.
Editions:
Della prattica musica vocale et strumentale…, facsimile edition, «Biblioteca Musica Bononiensis» II, 30, Bologna 1969
